American Idol Top 7 (Redux) Results Recap: 'Everything' But the Girls [Updated]

With four simple words splashed across the screen at the top of this week’s American Idol Top 7 (Part Deux) results show, fans of Phillip, Colton, Skylar, Jessica, and Joshua clutched their throw pillows and began saying their novenas.

Yeah, these fan bases paused to enjoy the pleasures of Kris Allen’s inspirational new single, “The Vision of Love,” — and to hit the mute button when two neon-clad cavepersons crawled out the bottom of a tequila bottle and vomited some notes (and probably some phlegm) into the audience.

But then it was time to get down with the ugly business of sending home one of seven very evenly matched, very talented contestants.

Before we dish those results, though, a few thoughts on the telecast:

* I was so aghast at the hideous staging for the group performance of “Dancing in the Streets” — So. Many. Balloons. — I forgot to pay attention to the vocals. Hollie and Joshua’s synchronized moves were a total kick, though, and confirmed my belief that reality-show BFF-dom can indeed help a contestant’s popularity.

* I know I’m an impartial fanboy, but Kris Allen’s “The Vision of Love” really is a beautiful song, and his performance tonight had more magic than a Pegasus flying over a double rainbow. Okay, the staging for the opening third — with Kris repeatedly disappearing from my TV screen as he played piano on a slowly spinning platform — was inscrutable (and a little infuriating), but that uptick in the melody on “someone tell this girl she’s beautiful” made everything better.

* Ten years from now, Idol historians will probably call Phillip’s libidinous “Hey, what’s your number? Does your daddy let you date?” — captured on video backstage Wednesday after his post-performance flirtation with J.Lo — the turning point in the race for the Season 11 crown.

* Okay, so the feedback Elise got from the judges on Wednesday was drawn-out, ineloquent, and occasionally ridiculous — showing emotion (at least in her music) isn’t really one of her problems — but I wonder if she’s aware she’s probably not going to score too many new voters after her surly response to Ryan Seacrest asking if she thought the judges were tougher on her than her competitors. “Yeah, definitely,” Elise sighed, going on to describe the feedback she’s received from J.Lo, Randy, and Steven to be “disheartening a little bit,” and that it makes her “feel a little discredited sometimes.” Look, I’m all for railing against imbalances at the Idol judges’ table, but in this case, I’d have appreciated it if Elise had followed up her “definitely” by owning up to the fact that her choice and execution of “Let’s Get It On” simply didn’t work on Wednesday. Sometimes a bad critique and a bad performance simply go hand-in-hand.

* I didn’t agree with everything armchair quarterback Jimmy Iovine said in his pre-recorded snippets, but at least dude didn’t bore me. He knocked Colton’s look, sound and moves on his Gaga cover (calling it a cross between “1985 Billy Idol on TRL, and Spider-Man on Broadway“). And he had an a-ha moment that Jessica has been covering music that’s too old for her (i.e. “Tray a Little Tenderness). But with five weeks of live performance shows left before Season 11 is history, isn’t it premature for him to be definitively saying Phillip — a guy whose performances he’s been very critical of in recent weeks — belongs in the Final 2?

I guess that’s a discussion for another day. For right now I need to give you some piping hot results action!

“I have to apologize,” said Colton, when asked for his reaction to his ouster — despite the fact that he’d never before been in the Bottom 3. “I wasn’t myself last night.” Colton then promised not to stray from his comfort zone when he makes his post-Idol record, and delivered an emotional rendition of Lifehouse’s “Everything” to close the show. Gah! And just when I was starting to warm up to the idea of his inevitable hometown visit!

What did you think of Top 7 results? Did Colton deserve to get booted? If not, who should’ve been sent home? And could anyone have predicted a Top 6 with only two male contestants? Sound off in the comments, and for all my Idol news, interviews, and recaps, follow me on Twitter @MichaelSlezakTV!

I find Philip conundrum. I don’t really like his voice but I can see him making it big. I think he’s a good-looking guy, but not sexy. I think he’s artistic and musically creative, but a bit boring and awkward to watch. As I said, I can’t really work him out, I like him, I like him not, I like him, I like him not… I like him. I wish him all the best for a successful career.

I’m done with Idol for the year. Colton had personality. He had presence. He had showmanship. Elise, Jessica, Holly are dull, dull, dull. They’re like watching paint dry. I actually fell asleep watching their performances the other night they were so awful.

Not all Christians object to Lady Gaga. I’m Christian and I like Lady Gaga a lot. I didn’t care for Colton’s rendition of the song, though. I’m not sure who convinced him that was a good arrangement. Could it be…Satan? ;-)

What’s wrong with it? “Bad Romance” is a wildly popular song (and it’s probably my favorite Lady Gaga song, though I’m not a huge fan of her in general), so clearly, most people have no objections to it.

Darcy – I’m in no way saying that all Christians don’t like Gaga or even that song. I’m just saying that what appears to have happened is that enough of his Christian fan base didn’t vote for him because he sang that song that it caused him to go home.

Remember at the end of the show when he said “I have to apologize. I wasn’t myself last night. I get it.” I didn’t know what he was talking about & the judges looked confused too. But it makes more sense after seeing the negative comments, on his youtube video, especially on Wed. night.

It’s true, i didn’t realize that “christians” objected to lady gaga that much — lady gaga is catholic and those who objected should actually get to know gaga, they might be surprised. I’m a catholic and love Lady Gaga. I never saw Colton as a christian singer in the first place, just an amazing artist.

I didn’t see him as a Christian singer either. “Everything” is the only really Christian song he sang on the competition; otherwise, it seemed as though he gravitated more toward alt/emo rock, and personally, that’s the kind of music that I wanted him to do.

Elise and Jessica have presence and personality, not to mention fantastic voices. I’m disappointed that Colton is gone, and the show just won’t be the same without him, but both Elise and Jessica deserved to go far as well.

Really agree with you about Simon being missed and the judges being poor but I think the remaining contestants are pretty good, Elise (her Whole Lotta Love was the performance of the entire season!), Joshua (although he can be a little screechy) and Skylar in particular.

Wow! I was gone last night (really wish Idol would go back to Tues/Wed for my convenience, LOL) and resisted the urge to look at my phone to see who got kicked off. Came home and told my husband I wanted to watch Idol and I’d resisted the urge to see who was going home by looking at my phone and he flippantly said, “The kid with the funny hair is going home”. I got a little perturbed and told him I could NOT believe he had ruined my surprise. When they announced Colton was going home I could tell by the shell-shocked look on my husband’s face he had no idea who was going home.
He’d just been pulling my leg.

Ok so Jimmy had an ephipany and realized Jessica was singing songs that subject wise were too old for her. What about Hollie’s Son of a Preacher Man? Shouldn’t he have steered her away from that too?

I was surprised that Colton was voted off at his first time in the bottom three. Has that ever happened before?

I guess this goes to show that there may not be a big frontrunner as everyone believes. Maybe the range between the contestants is closer than we thing. Remember Taylor Hicks, Elliot and Katherine McPhee?

I thought the exact same thing last night about Jimmy’s comments about Jessica and her song choices being “too old”! Seriously, Jimmy??? where have you been?
One of the inherent problems with minor contestants is it does (or should)limit the song choices. I still get kind of a creepy feeling when I think about Lauren Alaina singing seductively to Steven Tyler last year during Group Week. It was a cute idea and would have been so much cuter had Lauren not been 15 years old or whatever she was.

OOOO I had forgotten about Lauren singing to Steven and trying to act sexy. That was soo awkward. She also sang a “too old” song during one of the weeks. I was going to mention that moment but I couldn’t remember the song.

I think Jimmy was on target and may do his research on the Internet. Jessica has not even developed physically yet. That may mean nothing, but if the song is lyrically over-age, she is simply not believable.

That was gross and I haven’t forgotten it. Before he got on Idol, I didn’t think anything could make me dislike Steven Tyler (I’m a life long Aerosmith fan) but my disgust with the judges has drained all respect for him.

Amazing. I can safely say now that Elise is the only remaining contestant whose album I would buy. I do like how she is totally this season’s Haley, between covering the same songs and repeated vists to the bottom 3. It definitely looks like a Philip-Skylar, 1-2 finish, but I’m hoping Elise Haleys her way to a #3 finish!

I also agree with Nate. Elise is the only performer that I would listen to post-idol. She has the most unique grown-up voice and I agree that she is obviously on the wrong show, seemingly too old for the demographics of idol, and her negativity seems to be offputting for those voters who want their contestants to pander and play the game. However, with 53 million votes being cast and Elise having “more lives than a box full of cats” there must be some silent minority continuously voting for Elise to not just stave off elimination each week but to remain out of the bottom two this week. I’m just happy for another week of performances from her until that so-called “other shoe” drops.. If she slays it like “whole lotta love” this week she may again become a top 3 favorite. The voting trends regarding her seem to allow this possibility to happen.

I hate that recently, it seems as though Idol has turned from a legitimate singing competition into a contest to see who can pander the most to the core voting demographic (apparently, white Christian teenagers who think that 28 is old). The contestants shouldn’t be able to do whatever they want, not what other people want them to do. While I think that they should respect the show, it’s hard to be mad when they talk back to the judges and express their real opinions because more often than not, I agree with them. The judges’ critiques of Elise’s performances this week were laughably inaccurate, and it doesn’t help their credibility that they couldn’t even remember the name of a certain classic song.

In terms of the idol’s post-show careers, I would buy Elise’s album, go to Skylar’s concert, and claim that I don’t listen to Jessica’s pop songs but then secretly download them and hum them in the shower.
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And I miiiiiight go to a concert given by uptempo funky Joshua, but not one given by inspirational ballad Joshua.

What I don’t understand is the “too old” critique of Jessica. In the last few weeks, she’s sung Alicia Keys, Beyonce, and Jazmine Sullivan, all relevant, current artists. How old was Alicia when “Fallin” came out? 20? Was SHE too young to be singing it? Beyonce is the epitome of current, and Ms. Sullivan is only 25 today. These weren’t old songs by old artists for Jessica. That isn’t it at all.

I also think this whole “she isn’t connecting with the songs” narrative is just feeding itself. It really doesn’t have any merit, in my opinion. People (the judges, recappers) just keep repeating and willing it, when in essence, it doesn’t really exist. The girl is a masterful, professional singer. I’m locked-into every single one of her performances, and unlike so many, I wasn’t on the hype train early in the season. She won me over BECAUSE she knows how to perform, not because the producers and judges (when it was expedient) told me she was good.

I think a real misinterpretation of “soul” or “feeling” the song as you perform it, is automatically attributed it to holleration and screaming. Joshua Ladet is a fine singer, but his “soul”/gospel performance tics are build around years of technique from singing in the church, not gritty, authentic soul. Marvin Gaye is one of the greatest soul singers of all time, do you remember him screaming and shouting through every performance he ever gave? How about Smokey Robinson? Anita Baker? Luther Vandross? I could on and on. Ladet is a gospel technician, and the showy, shouting performances he gives are prototypical Sunday morning COGIC service singing…all he does is switch up the lyrics. He’s his own kind of robot, and I’m personally wayyyy over the act. He couldn’t do subtle if he wanted to, which means he’s one-note and one-dimensional.

I hear ZERO musicality in PP’s voice. I do not, will not, refuse to, understand his appeal, outside of those pretty eyes and cute smile. Funny, we saw Taylor Hicks AND Kris Allen last night. PP wins this thing (heaven forbid), and he may be headed to Las Vegas in a few years after a flop debut album too.

I liked Colton about three weeks ago, and then I grew tired of his shtick too. That Bad Romance performance was all kinds of a mess, and I said it, and I’m glad America agreed with me.

In the end, I’m hoping for a Skylar/Jessica finale. That would be a treat. Two evenly matched, ultra-professional, 16-year-old future divas of America going for the Idol crown….but I know it ain’t happening.

There’s quite a difference between 20 and 16, much more than a chronological 4 years; much more of a difference than, say, between 34 and 30, or even 24 and 20. Jessica, at 16, seems awkward and out of place singing some of the more adult songs she has chosen up to now.

Exactly! At least a 20 year old is an adult and possibly has adult experiences—a 16 year old girl should not be singing songs about sex and seduction and love and heartbreak—it isn’t appropriate. She should be singing songs about first kisses or stuff 16 year olds can/are experiencing or just basic songs about life that don’t go into subjects she can’t possibly conceive right now (sex) The Whitney song–How Will I Know—that was more appropriate than Try and Little Tenderness or Fallin’—although Fallin isn’t so bad compared to Try a Little Tenderness.

She doesn’t have to be singing about sex and if I were her mother I’d be there telling the producers, absolutely NOT! She’s a innocent 16 year old girl—why would you, Sandi, think it’s ok for her to be singing about sex? There are plenty of songs to sing that aren’t about sex.

I have 16 year old and 3 older kids that were once 16 and 2 more on their way, I am totally in touch with reality. And whether they are innocent or not–it’s it NOT appropriate for them to be singing about sex. Period.

OTOH it is true that at the age you might not have had all sorts of sorrows or deep struggles or obviously 8 year long relationships that go to pieces, etc.. (Well I mean some will if they have a deeply messed up broken home or been in blood diamond armies and so on, but)

That’s the problem; there aren’t a lot of songs that are not about sex and relationships. That’s what the vast majority of music is about. And for her to have to limit herself to only “non relationshipy” songs would be very limiting. Believe me, I don’t like the idea of a teenage girl singing about mature matters but I think there’s a big dilemma there if everytime she sings about romance, she’s inappropriate and 90%+ of the charts is made up of those kind of songs.

Heaven forbid that they make her sing Disney songs! I also don’t think the criticism has merit. She is way beyond her years as a singer/performer. Maybe her physical appearance is girlish vs womanly and that feeds into the notion that she is too young to sing adult songs. But as with most of these artists, I mostly just listen to them; I seldom watch music video. So appearances don’t get in the way. Jessica more than connects with me when I listen to her music. I think she’s fantastic and a real talent!

Was surprised to see him go last night. I honestly thought he had a shot at making it to at least the final 3 or 4. Say what you want about him (everyone is entitled to their own opinion), but personally I don’t believe I’ve ever been moved quite as much by anything on this show as I was with Colton’s final song. Eliminated, no doubt feeling horrible and lost in that moment, and the young man gets on his knees, raises his hand and praises God! I was very proud of and for him. I’ve seen many people question his expressions of faith on the show as trying to “pander for votes” but obviously, last night that could not have been the case (as he’d already been eliminated). So wonderful to see a young person not be ashamed to praise God like that! I’m sure he’ll never see this but on the off, off chance that he does – Thank you Colton, for that blessing last night!

I don’t have a problem with him being open about his Christianity, and I never got the feeling that he was doing it to pander to voters, but I have to say that I’m disappointed and a tad nervous to hear that he’s going to do Christian rock. From what I could tell on the show, it seemed as though he was more of an alt-rock/emo rock singer, and I was really hoping that he would decide to do that kind of music.

I think Colton had the most experience…had the most defined ‘how to win’ game plan and therefore less excuses should be made for his abysmal performances this week. I always felt his relioious pandering was off-putting and he was just awful this week. That said I wish Jessical would go….she’s such a little Idol robot.

These judges just make me cringe whenever they open their mouths. What is the matter with them?! Please, for the love of God, someone get Randy a dictionary and ban – for all 3 of them! – the use of the word ‘beautiful’! They were a least a little more talktative this week (in the UK we get the show a night after you, so the elimination show is on tonight).

I am a born again Christian, not a “born again Christian” who believes that Jesus and God are the same being, like Colton does. His Jesus singing through him comment was a bunch of (earnest) baloney and left a bad taste in my mouth when I saw him on my screen ever time after that. But I also believe it was his untextured, thin voice juxtaposed to the other voices left that got him the boot. Lady Gaga (who is awesome and not a demon, just want to clear that up) is not responsible for his demise. His singing voice (not his persona) just didn’t measure up. I am pleasantly surprised Elise didn’t get voted off. Her studio recording of “Let’s Stay Together” is the best recording I’ve heard from Idol in ages. Seriously, take a moment and look it up on You Tube.

I should stop making predictions as I haven’t been right one time this season. I really thought Colton had a shot at winning this whole shootin’ match.
I really like P2 and Elise. I would like to see P2, Elise, and Joshua in the top 3 but I have a feeling it’s going to be P2, Jessica, and Skylar.

What a thought. So many of us have been wrong in predicting this season. Maybe we all are in for a BIG suprise and Elise will win it all. But what a shame that would be because she would be forced to do a debut album consisting of preselected pop songs.

God…can you imagine?? I actually don’t want Elise to win. I prefer that the people I like make it almost to the end but don’t ultimately win so they aren’t as hamstrung by the Idol machine. Kelly Clarkson had to battle it, and it was really hard for her to get to do some of the things she wanted to do. I’d rather that Elise makes to second or third, gets a ton of money, and then goes and makes her own kind of album. But SHE probably wants to win, so…ok. Elise for the win!!

Yeah. It’s depressing to see so many Idols flounder after leaving the show because a lot of them are really, genuinely talented. I’d frankly rather them do the kind of music they want to do, even if they don’t become wildly successful, than see them trying to cater to modern-day tastes by doing a bunch of cheap pop songs. It’s a shame that they don’t have more creative control over their careers.

I don’t know how you can say so many flounder after Idol–there are tons out there doing well, making a living with their music. They aren’t as big and popular as Carrie or Kelly–but that’s a rarity in itself as it is! So many have come over to country music, I hear former Idols on country radio all the time!

I had the same opinion before that artists like Elise are better off coming in third so they don’t get hamstrung by the record labels they have to sign with. But I have since changed my mind. It’s a struggle for these artists to get any radio play if they are not with a major label regardless of how talented they are. They’re better off winning, maybe compromising in the beginning. The bottom line is to have any clout in the music business, you need to make a name for yourself first. And that won’t happen if you drift into obscurity because of a no-name label you had to sign with because you didn’t win.

That’s a fair point. But I think each of them has to decide what “successful” mean to them. If, say, Elise is happy without super stardom so long as she makes her living as a musician on her own terms, she doesn’t need to win. If she wants super stardom, though, she needs to win. She strikes me as the first type, but I don’t really know her, so maybe you’re right!

I also thought Colton had a chance to win – and he may have, at one point – and I would love to see your favored top three, but sadly agree you’ve probably identified what will be the actual top three (I do rather like Skylar, but not as much as Elise or Phillip).

I find it funny that Jimmy says that jessica should sing songs that are her own age when the theme of the night was songs from the past. Is that really the problem anyways? She can sing anything.
Its sad when Colton’s off week was not forgiven yet elise, hollie and philip (last week) — all have been continued to be forgiven for their off nights.

No one cares. They can sing whatever they want to sing. I was glad to see Colton get outside his comfort zone and show that he has a weirder, wilder side. He shouldn’t have to play into people’s expectations of him.

Image the the couple in thier forties sitting in the living room having the same voting pwer as the very young who text, text, text. The one to 3 vote system may help talents like Elise, Allison I, or Haley Rhinehart to be the winners
As far as Colton is concerned the young ones did not like Colton’s I don’t car care comment
The tween however can identify with Holly

I wasn’t really a fan of Colton, but I was very impressed by his attitude when he learned he was eliminated. He showed a lot of class and grace and I could tell he was 100% authentic unlike LMFAO who, imo, were ridiculous.

What people need to remember is: This is the best collection of singers this show’s ever had. There isn’t a bad one in there. No matter who got booted last night, there was an argument that the eliminated contestant could have been the winner.

I do think this cements Phillip in the final, most likely against Skylar. When Hollie and Elise go, Skylar picks up those votes, and Phillip gets Colton’s.

They’re all good, and if any of them pick two songs that aren’t in the pocket, they’re gone. Elise picked one, the others didn’t mess up.

I never saw Colton as a christian singer, he doesn’t really sing christian songs, i have liked him since last season when I was shocked he was cut. But I think that his ouster is the problem that you go into when your favorite is out– it’s fast becoming like last year, when this show lost a lot of viewers when it was very apparent that scotty was not going anywhere, leaving the finale to be the most boring, who cares who wins, the show has ever seen.

“I never saw Colton as a christian singer, he doesn’t really sing christian songs, i have liked him since last season when I was shocked he was cut.”

Same here. Based on his song choices throughout the competition, I’m not entirely convinced that he really wants to do a straight-up Christian rock album. Maybe it’s just because I personally don’t think he should do Christian rock, but the whole apology and everything just seemed kind of fake. He shouldn’t have to apologize for taking a risk. If people didn’t like his decision to do “Bad Romance”, it’s their problem, not his.

Is anyone else thinking it’s gonna be a Skylar/Joshua/Phillip top 3 now? I’m starting to feel that. Hollie and Elise in some order over the next two weeks, then Jessica….
Personally though, I’m hoping for a Joshua/Jessica top 2, with Skylar in third.

Colton had one bad night and he went home. Elise and Hollie have continuous bad nights and they’re still there. I don’t care who wins at this point, but just to make a mockery of Idol I kinda hope another White Guy With Guitar does!

OMG what is it with you people and WGWG???? So what, Phillip plays a guitar and sings? He’s a talented guy and he deserves to be where he is in the competition. Colton wasn’t a wgwg, he was a wgwp—and still people are all “we don’t want a wgwg to win” If the white guy who plays guitar is deemed the best by the voters, then they deserve to win! Phillip is so much more the entire package than a young girl with a big voice—he sings, he plays, he writes his own music. jessica and Hollie have awesome voices but they still need to grow, Phillip is already there. I’m so sick of this sexism—Idol is about who the majority of voters think is the best, Phillip is more commercially viable than Jessica, his type of music reaches more people whereas Jessica fans are more strictly into R&B and Hollie is at least Pop which is a more broad category than R&B. If you don’t vote at all, then don’t bitch about who is left. If you don’t like Philip because he’s a white guy and plays guitar—then you are ridiculous. It’s not about skin color and the fact that he plays an instrument—it’s about the TYPE of music that the “wgwg”‘s play–more people LIKE rock/pop and that’s why WGWG’s win!

Exactly!! I vastly prefer rock to other genres and therefore will gravitate towards the guy with the guitar.
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But let’s hate on Colton and Phillip because of their pigmentation and their ability to play musical instruments. Doesn’t that make so much sense? (My sarcasm isn’t directed at you, Marsaili, obviously).

I totally got you :-) this whole WGWG is so ridiculous—and then as you read through these boards someone else keeps complaining about the WGWG winning all the time. GET OVER IT! LOL! Rock is more popular than ballads!

People are saying they don’t want a WGWG winning AGAIN. We’ve got 6 left – 4 talented girls and one very talented Black guy. I’m tired of the WGWG formula, and for the sake of the kids who compete on this show, they need to believe that someone besides the White Guy can still win this thing. It’s called HOPE. Don’t take their hope away, you idiot.

LOL. I hope, for your sake, that you’re no older than 13 since you feel the need to name-call and get so worked up about a TV reality show.
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I’m “taking the hope away from kids” because I don’t vote based on race? You are so odd, if you’re over 14. If you’re 12, I forgive you.

No, you’re taking their hope away, because you need to vote for the attractive white guy or the Blonde Blue-Eyed Hollie. Let’s get real here. I’m not calling you a racist, but you’ve bought into the mindless formula that is ATTRACTED to the WGWG or the pretty blonde femali, even if the other artists are better. Remember LeeDeWyze and Crystal Bowersox? It takes a brain to think outside the box, and vote for the best artist.

Your logic is flawed—to me the best artist IS Phillip and it’s not because he’s cute. That is so insulting to hear people use that lame excuse. Just because YOU don’t like him doesn’t mean anyone who does, likes him for all the wrong reasons. I think Joshua and Skylar have the best voices–TO ME. I appreciate Jessica’s talent, but she does nothing for me. Elise and Hollie are more ready to be an Idol than Jessica is—while she is technically awesome, she has a lot of growing to do to be as awesome on stage.

I don’t think Elise has had any bad nights. I haven’t been overly impressed by her most recent performances, but even those are more mediocre or just decent than outright bad. I’m waiting for her to give us another performance as fantastic as “Whole Lotta Love”, which might be my favorite performance of the entire season so far.

Well, Mr. Slezak, I agree that Philip’s response to Jennifer back stage could be the defining moment of the season, but it looks like no one noticed. This will be interesting to watch play out and could be an entirely new (and unwanted) competition dynamic. Yousa!

Colton wasn’t apologising for his performances, he was apologising for that comment he made backstage about not caring what the judges had to say. That apology was then totally negated by his “when I make my record” comment. Man, the size of the head on that kid!

Exactly right, Junebug. He’s going to make a record, so he was being positive, not cocky. Colton displayed such a loving and caring attitude to EVERYBODY. He just has a lot of confidence in who he is and was comfortable on stage. A great guy. I really respect him. He’ll do really well in thee music industry, I’m convinced of it.

Don’t waste your time. If you like a contestant, then everything they do is fabulous. Elise could through a brick at the producers and half the people here would say she’s bold and ballsy. But if you don’t like a contestant, everything they do reads as though they are just nasty people.

I’m all for modesty, but I can’t exactly be put off by Colton’s comments when I’m pretty much thinking the exact same thing. The judges really are pretty much useless this season. Even when they do criticize someone, their criticisms are almost always wildly off-base, and it’s nice to hear someone say what so many of us are thinking, even if it is kind of rude. I’m just disappointed that he claims to regret singing Lady Gaga because he has absolutely nothing to apologize for there.

I hated to see Colton go! It should have been Jessica or Elise or Joshua. America doesn’t seem to understand that they should be voting for the person who can have a career and none of these three can. Colton could!

Jessica is duller than dishwater, Joshua is a wannabe and Elise has a one trick pony voice.

Most of the AI winners go on to be losers and sadly this year looks to be more of the same!

America didn’t get it wrong–what you have stated is your opinion. I happen to think that every one of the top 7 has a chance at a successful career post Idol. They might not be the caliber of Carrie or Kelly or Scotty, but if they can make a good living like Kelly Pickler, Casey James, Melinda Doolittle, and so many more—then they will be successful!

Elise’s problem is her age – in that, she’s got way more performance experience under her belt and has definite views on her own talent and strengths, and isn’t inclined to just sit there and take what she perceives as misguided or unfair criticism and mixed messages. She’s smarter than that, and a bit feisty, and younger contestants maybe don’t feel secure enough in themselves to channel their inner rebel. Unfortunately, you have to play the Idol game from now on, just make nice, listen to conflicting messages and move forward. If I were her, I’d listen to Jimmy over anyone else and keep my mouth shut and SMILE. Does she want to stay in it or not? Maybe she hasn’t decided yet. Not surprised about Colton so much. Someone has to leave. It’s down to 7, now 6. Having the perpetual Bottom 3 starts to be ridiculous. That’s half the contestants now. Funny that two of these kids chose songs that were covered in ‘The Commitments’ movie by Andrew Strong, who slayed them both. Compared to him, both AI versions looked robotic and soulless.

I kind of agree with you, but maybe she doesn’t want to stay in like that. I think Elise should win or lose on her own merits, talent, skill, and personality. I don’t think she should smile for the sake of America; she should smile if she feels like smiling. Wednesday night was the first time it looked to me like Elise wasn’t having any fun, and I think that was due to personal issues. But all the other nights, she seemed to be having a great time. I don’t get why people think she doesn’t smile enough, I really don’t. And I’m thinking she probably doesn’t either. That’s got to be incredibly frustrating.

Exactly. It’s hard not to be mad when the judges criticize you and in the process of criticizing you, they botch the name of an incredibly famous song and say that “Let’s Get It On” is an Al Green song when it is, in fact, a Marvin Gaye song. I applaud her for standing up for herself. She shouldn’t have to just do whatever she’s “supposed” to do or whatever they want her to do. Also, for anyone who doesn’t think Elise smiles enough, I refer you to her “Whole Lotta Love” performance. Not only did she sound amazing, but it’s obvious that she was having a blast.

Right?! She was smiling all over “No One” the other night too. They seem to want her with a smile plastered on her face while she’s listening to them say ridiculous things about her or while she’s sitting around waiting to get stuck in the bottom three…or something. She doesn’t need to do that, I don’t think. No for me, anyway.

Look, she hasn’t made it as an artist because she has flaws. She’s been on the stage long enough to learn some vocal tricks – that’s why she’s made it this far. For the type of artist she wants to be, her voice is a bit unpleasant – she sounds kind of nasal and I don’t enjoy her sound. Simply put, she’s not the best at what she does – there are others who do it better and SOUND better.

Thousands of independent musicians busting their asses in clubs and bars all over the country just gave you a metaphorical middle…I mean, they’re displeased. I don’t get why being a bar band singer is looked down on at all. I know people who do that job, and some of them are incredibly talented. The idea that if you haven’t made it by 28, there must be something wrong with you seems crazy to me, honestly. Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks may be one of the most nasally sounding women on the planet. She’s also a superstar who didn’t find fame until she was about 24, and Martie Maguire was *gasp* nearly 30 before the Chicks hit the big time. Stevie Nicks was around 26. I could go on, but to each his own.

Even in the pure pop-star world not many people had heard of Madonna untll she was 26! And today people talk like a pop-star is washed up and done with if they hit 25! And yet perhaps the longest lasting female pop star ever, nobody ever even heard of her until she was past ‘washed-up’ age!

I was shocked that Colton went home. I could have seen him being in the bottom three but then being sent immediately back to safety, but home? No way! Totally thought he was going to be top 3 if not win the whole dang thing. The show is going to be a snooze fest without his dramatic performances to look forward to. But I did have a hard time deciding who my favorite was Colton or Phillip – so I guess now that decision is made for me.
PS – glad the judges finally like Hollie.

Colton was my favorite and he did not deserve to go home. He got really unlucky because other contestants who have been in the bottom three,some more than once gave the fans a heads up that their votes were needed.in Colton’s case his fans had no clue their votes were that important because he had never been in the bottom, and there was no chance for fans to fix it.and the judges has already wasted the save on Jessica and I say wasted because she will not win anyway. Colton had a chance to win.

It’s one of those years with a lot of talented singers, so no one knows what will happen week to week. Complacency plays a role in results also.
My other theory: The producers didn’t want Michael Slezak to be right in his prediction.

Just wanted to note that of all the idols remaining, the one that had to work the hardest was Hollie. From the inception of the auditions, she was the one with the least camera time to help build fanbases.
No matter how good her performance was every week, the judges had to dig to find something negative. Calling her out on being pitchy or her notes were off was a poor excuse in their mindless excavation. Other contestants were screeching and all over the place yet they never got called out for it. It seems some contestants were judged because how well they danced, how hard they stomped, how well they could contort their faces and over emote, how loud they could scream, how they stayed true and sang the same way everytime .Yet with Hollie they consistantly picked apart and berated anything she did even stuff they told her to do the weeks before. If you watch some of the greatest singers (Dusty) you will see that you don’t have to jump around or overact to put emotion into a song. I think in her own quiet way Hollie’s emotion comes through in her voice. Sometimes things should be heard and not seen.
Every week she had to get up to bat and try to hit the “ball of confusion” the judges pitched to her. With all the sickening pimping that was displyed, Hollie managed to get on base and stay in the game sans the judges “steroids” that were injected to a few. Throughout everything she had to face, Hollie took it all like a refined true professional. Although small in nature, many of us should only aspire to be half the woman she is right now.

I am a Colton fan. And i am so upset that he is gone. I dont feel he had his best performances this week. But i guess imo i thought he was safe. So i did not rush to vote. I am very upset that i did not vote. I think other Colton fans assumed him safe no matter what. I guess that is not true.

I love Colton, too, and I voted! After Daughtry, whom I did not vote for the week he got eliminated, I vowed I would never get complacent again. But I’ve only ever voted for 4 contestants: Daughtry, Cook, Lambert, Dixon. To be honest, I will never understand what happened with Colton. How does a strong fan base like his just disappear? Someone suggested that it didn’t, but that the fans of other contestants (Elise, Hollie, Jessica) felt the urgency to vote more. And how does one less-than-stellar night for Colton equal an elimination, when so many other contestants have had less-than-stellar nights? I know I need to get over this, but I just can’t.

I don’t understand why some people are only including girls in their list of contestants who should have gone home before Colton, as well as saying that the reason is they have had nights that were “less than stellar”. Each of those contestants has had a magnificent performance while Colton has only had barely above average ones. Also, to include Jessica in that list is a travesty. I’m not a fan of hers, but she’s never had a “Less than stellar” night.

Colton seemed a bit cocky and entitled at the Results Show (you know it’s an issue if you start a sentence with “I don’t mean to be cocky, but . . . “. I kind of always got that vibe from him, but I don’t think it’s why he’s gone. His performances last night were both far less than stellar. Given the camera time P2 got as he kind-of-cried-but-not-really during Colton’s final performance, he’ll probably get a lot of Colton’s fans.

While I don’t always believe Dial Idol, they did have Colton going home this week. Which shows what one night of bad choices can do. And that’s what happened to Colton. I think Joshua is picking up steam (deservedly) and Jessica’s fan base got ignited. Top 3 – Joshua, Jessica and P2. Skylar is #4 (she’s needs to rein it in, stop the shouting and the oversinging). So it’s totally possible that the finale could be Joshua and Jessica and wouldn’t that be lovely?

I don’t think Colton made any bad choices this week, at least not as far as the songs that he chose. He took risks, and maybe they didn’t pay off (though I personally thought they did), but that’s still better than doing the same thing every week and not even bothering to venture outside your comfort zone.

I would love a Jessica/Joshua finale, though at this point, I’d be surprised if Phillip doesn’t end up winning. *sigh*

I just finished watching both Wednesday and Thursdays shows and I AM SHOCKED. How could Colton leave before Jessica or Hollie????? OMG. Granted he was just ok. But his okay is 1000 times better than Boring Jessica and Poor Little Clueless Hollie. Congrats to Phillip who just won AI by a landslide. I’ll be thrilled for him because he’s not the same boring old Kris Allen or Lee DeWhatever, or Randy Travis Clone.

I think we kind of got off track here talking about The Voice (not good show!)! I have never liked Elise for the very reason someone mentioned – her sulky, whiney ATTITUDE!!! SHE should have gone home, NOT Colton!! He was in my top 2 or 3! I just love Hollie’s voice! I’m so glad she has started to loosen up a bit. Not much of a Jessica fan, tho. Too screamy! Same with Joshua.

I think that the judges wasted the save on Jessica and in retaliation, the voters showed them what would happen by eliminating Colton!
Jessica may have a beautiful voice, but she can’t sing up-tempo and has no stage presence.
However, I think Elise probably should have gone home last night, not Colton. He’s a great performer and has much more potential to become a star.

I dont know exactly why Colton fans including me were asleep at the wheel. But Colton leaving had nothing to do with what happened to his sister.

As far as Hollie and Elise. One of them should have left before Colton. Colton had one bad night. It sucks that America voted wrong again. I do feel the judges wasted the save on Jessica. Because she is flat without any fan appeal. But judges keep pushing her. And sorry i am far from a Josua Ledet fan.

All of the above singers that you mentioned are miles beyond Philip and a few notches above Colton, who till his elimination still didn’t have any breakout performances. He was always just a little above average. Hollie and Elise have both had bad nights but they have both had great to amazing performances too with Hollie taking the prize for “Reflection”, “All the Man That I Need”, “Power of Love” and more recently “Rolling in the Deep”. Elise had “One and Only”, “Vienna” and “Whole Lotta Love”.

There is no denying that from the top 7 Redux on, it was going to be one very hard cut after another with Hollie making a huge comeback and each contestant already having had several or one of their own standout performances.

I like Kris Allen’s new single. He and his song writer group did a really good job bringing that one to life. It’s filled with a positive message and that is something we all need a daily dose of.
I don’t know what the video of Phillip was about. I guess it was an attempt to show his humor or that he was just feeling playful after his last performance. (Maybe he was just channeling a little HeeJun).

When Elise started talking I started talking to the TV as if she could hear me, “Be quiet Elise. Zip it. Stop talking Elise. Stop talking.” I also dislike that the contestants seem to keep forgetting this is all one great big interview. I would think by now Elise should know she has to take the good with the bad and focus on the positive rather than the negative (positive should always outweigh the negative). She has gotten mixed critique (a lot of cooks in the kitchen) but she is still on that stage for a reason and she should always strive to do better (not make that an afterthought after self bombing). Where is her PR coach? I would’ve simply said, “Whether or not they are harder on me than the other contestants I think their feedback is valuable and I will continue to take it into consideration as I improve my performance capabilities”. I hope she doesn’t keep repeating that mistake (and gets past the feelings of embarrassment). Cue in Kenny Rodgers “If you’re gonna play the game boy you gotta learn to play it right. You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away know when to run…” In my mind she has not been discredited because she’s still singing to millions of viewers and has a much bigger fan base than she ever has before. Be confident Elise, but not self destructive. You are a great singer and performer but you are in a race here – run faster, run smarter.

As far as Jimmy Iovine is concerned … I mean if he hasn’t figured out by now one doesn’t always fit all (along with the phone book) why is he the mentor? I mean it’s good that he gets them to self reflect on why they might have fallen into the bottom, but a great leader helps you avoid the hole in the side walk (when you can clearly – or should – be able to see it coming from miles away). I respect his success but some folks just get lucky and build a successful team around it. His commentary is entertaining and infuriating all at the same time. As a business man he’s eyeballing the best return on investment.

Whether or not it was Colton’s time to sing his goodbyes (and apparently after 53 million votes that was the judgment) on the American Idol stage, there will be plenty more stages in his life upon which he will do well on. I wish him all the best and hope he does get that Dove Award someday!

The great news is we still have six very talented contestants who will have to conquer Queen next week. I am hoping for a real rock show (and wishing for Lambert to mentor)!

Is next week’s theme really Queen? Because I think Colton would be fantastic with, say, Bohemian Rhapsody. I hate to think of all the potentially fantastic performances from him that we won’t ever get the chance to see.

Cannot wait for Queen week. I LOVED it back in Season 5. It will really put Elise and P2 in their wheelhouses and challenge Hollie, Jessica and Joshua. Skylar is versatile enough for anything, but her country twang might sound pretty amusing on some Queen songs. Having duets and/or trios would be a really good idea, because a lot of Queen’s quality comes from their close harmonies.

Oh great, now I’m crying again. Colton won’t get to do Queen? I don’t think I can go on. He would have been amazing. You said it very well – I, too, hate to think of the performances we’ll never get to see. I loved the guy and was not ready to be without his truly interesting and entertaining performances every Wednesday.

These comments are quite amusing. Colton is a pseudo-emo poseur – he’s terrible! And using the stage to preach is highly annoying. He can take his bad haircut and start his Christian ‘rock’ career. I’m just happy I won’t have to hear him on the radio!

Michael, when you say comments are monitored, does that mean you proofread the comments? I am tempted to write in Textspeak (txtspk) just to test. Either that or you have the most intelligent commenters on the web, no period or comma out of place, all Spelling Bee finalists, and such eloquence! Seriously, unlike any other thread on the web. (Insert Randy Jackson reference here.) Freaky.

I’m shocked and pleased that the voters didn’t do what I expected and keep Colton around to win the crown. He’s a merely OK singer, and the whole “edgy” thing is so OTT inauthentic that it was hard for me to get by it and try to enjoy other qualities–like for example, he had a pretty good ear for the right song and arrangement most of the time. Since that sense failed him Wednesday, I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I assumed that his fans saw him differently than I.

You know, I really hate it when people try to take a contestant’s extemporaneous comment and turn it into a character trait, and I’d have hoped Slezak was above it, but apparently not.
Question: Do you feel the judges are harder on you?
Answer: Yes I do.
I personally prefer honesty to politics, even if I think at times she deserved some critique. They are harder on her and all of the females. I agree her second performance on Wednesday was a fail. But the question wasn’t about Wednesday. It was a question in general, and the issue in the question is whether the judges’ comments are comparatively balanced, not whether a particular criticism is accurate or deserved.

Damn Syb, I just posted my own comment that was similar to yours – you captured all my thoughts in fewer words, well done. So glad Colton’s gone, I was fast forwarding through most of his performances.

If there was a place to bet on who goes next, I’d bet my savings on Elise.

I don’t think Colton’s edgy side seemed inauthentic at all. If anything, I prefer that to his devout Christian side (which is fine but frankly not that interesting to watch, and considering how much recent Idol has been about politics, I feel like it would have probably been smarter for him to be less overt about it). I agree with you about Elise, though.

i was going to write something similar. thanks for saving my time :) BUT i do think that a simple addition of “having said that, i welcome your comments and understand that they’re often accurate” would have gone a long way for her.

I was pleasantly surprised by last night’s results. I fully expected for Elise to go home but was thrilled that Colton’s fake everything was sent packing, but don’t worry fans of Colton, I’m sure we’ll get a full dose of her sister next season.

Colton was the Mitt Romney of Idol this season. He tried to be everything everyone wanted him to be and he played the Idol game perfectly. He had edge (albeit fake), he changed the tempo and chorus to most of his songs, he sang a lot of songs originally sung by woman to make him look like a “true artist.” He was clearly a student of American Idols of the past but at the end of the day, he had mediocre vocals and tried too hard to be liked. Grantland’s Jay Caspian Kang described my thoughts on Colton best, “… it’s funny to see the suffering of a fake-earnest, fake-punk, fake-nice kid. In a related question, do we only watch this show to air out our high school frustrations? Didn’t you hate the Colton Dixon of your high school? And isn’t that why you hate Colton Dixon now? It has nothing to do with Colton Dixon, does it?

As for Elise, I think she’s gotten to the point where she honestly doesn’t care whether or not she wins the whole thing (similar attitude from P2). She’s been doing professional music for a while now and doesn’t like how she’s getting pulled in a million different directions. She’s probably gotten further than she ever expected, which is why you saw her somewhat sour attitude.

If I were to guess who the two finalists were, I’d put my money on Skylar and P2. I love how Nigel is positioning Skylar has this bright-eyed girl from the country, despite her already decorated professional career (google it!). Notice how Jimmy called her one of the best “performers” on the show? I agree 100%, the audience clearly feeds off of her energy but I’m still not convinced that she has great vocals. But she’s going to sell millions of records and be this year’s Idol winner.